On the 19th of March (1791), in writing to Lafayette, he says: "The tender concern which you express on my late illness awakens emotions which words will not explain, and to which your own sensibility can best do justice. My health is now quite restored, and I flatter myself with a hope of a long exemption from sickness. On Monday next I shall enter on the practice of your friendly prescription of exercise, intending, at that time, to begin a journey to the southward, during which I propose visiting all the southern States."
This tour he performed in his own carriage, drawn by six horses, which were not changed during the journey, which occupied nearly three months. He was accompanied by one of his private secretaries, Major Jackson. Leaving his residence in Market street, Philadelphia, he set off in the latter part of March, and was escorted into Delaware by Mr. Jefferson and General Knox. On the 25th of March he arrived at Annapolis, where he was met by the people in a body, entertained at public dinners and a ball, and, after staying two days, was accompanied on his journey by the governor of Maryland, as far as Georgetown. From this place, on the 29th of March, he writes to Gov. Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina: "I had the pleasure of receiving your Excellency's obliging letter of the 8th instant last evening. I am thus far on my tour through the southern States, but as I travel with only one set of horses, and must make occasional halts, the progress of my journey is exposed to such uncertainty as admits not of fixing a day for my arrival at Charleston. While I express the grateful sense which I entertain of your Excellency's polite offer to accommodate me at your house during my stay in Charleston, your goodness will permit me to deny myself that pleasure. Having, with a view to avoid giving inconvenience to private families, early prescribed to myself the rule of declining all invitations to quarters on my journeys, I have been repeatedly under a similar necessity to the present, of refusing those offers of hospitality which would, otherwise, have been both pleasing and acceptable."
From Georgetown he proceeded to Mount Vernon, where the necessary attention to his private affairs, and some important correspondence on public business, detained him a week. Leaving Mount Vernon, and passing through Fredericksburg, where he dined with some of his old personal friends, he arrived at Richmond on the 11nth of April (1791). His reception there was enthusiastic. He entered the city amidst the roar of cannon and the acclamations of the crowds of people who lined the streets through which he passed. In the evening there was a grand illumination; and during the two days which he remained there, the city was given up to festivities in honor of the favorite hero of Virginia. Similar tokens of welcome were exhibited at Petersburg, Halifax, Newburn, and Wilmington. On leaving the last-mentioned place he was rowed across Cape Fear river in a splendid barge, by six masters of vessels; and on his arrival at Charleston (May 2d) a similar token of honor was accorded to him on a larger scale. From Hadrill's Point, attended by a cortege of distinguished Carolinians, he was conveyed to the city in a twelve-oared barge, manned by thirteen captains of American ships, while other barges and floats, with bands of music and decorations, formed an imposing nautical procession. On landing he was received by Governor Pinckney, the civic authorities, the Cincinnati, and a brilliant military escort, who attended him in procession, amidst the ringing of bells, the firing of cannon, and the acclamations of the people, first to the Exchange, where he was welcomed in a formal address, and then to the house prepared for his reception. {1}
During the week he remained in Charleston, he received the most lively and touching tokens of welcome and affection from the warm-hearted Carolinians, who strove to render him every species of honor. A corporation ball on a grand scale, a large dinner party at Governor Pinckney's mansion, another at Maj. Pierce Butler's, a concert, and a splendid public entertainment given by the merchants of the city, formed a portion only of the testimonials of homage and welcome given on this occasion to their illustrious guest.
He left Charleston on the 9th of May (1791), escorted to Ashley ferry by the governor and a large cavalcade. "At Perrysburg," says Dr. Griswold, "he was met the next day by a committee from Savannah, and, with General Wayne, Major Butler, Mr. Baillie, and Major Jackson, was conducted on board a richly decorated boat, in which the party were rowed down the river by nine sea captains, dressed in light-blue silk jackets, black satin breeches, white silk stockings, and round hats with black ribbons, inscribed with 'Long live the President,' in golden letters. Ten miles from the city they were met by other barges, from one of which a company of gentlemen sung the popular song, 'He comes, the hero comes!' As they drew near the harbor, every vessel and all the shore were discovered to be thronged with people. When the President stepped on the landing he was received by Gen. James Jackson, who introduced him to the mayor and aldermen; and he was soon after conducted, in the midst of a procession, through crowds of spectators, to the house prepared for his accommodation in St. James' square. The same evening he dined with the city authorities and a large number of other gentlemen, at Brown's Coffee House. Cannons were fired during the day, and at night the streets and the shipping were brilliantly illuminated. On Friday he dined with the Cincinnati of the State of Georgia, and attended a ball. On Saturday, accompanied by General McIntosh, who had been second in command under General Lincoln in storming them, he examined the remaining traces of the lines constructed by the British for the defense of Savannah in 1779, and dined with 200 citizens and strangers under a beautiful arbor, supported by numerous columns and ornamented with laurel and bay leaves, erected on an elevation which commanded a view of the town and the harbor.
"It has been frequently said of Washington, that 'no man in the army had a better eye for a horse,' and many of his letters show that he was by no means indifferent as to the qualities or treatment of his stud, during the war and afterward. A tour of 1,900 miles, with the same animals, was a severe test of their capacities, and before reaching Charleston he wrote to Mr. Lear, that though, all things considered, they had got on very well, yet his horses were decidedly worsted, and if brought back would 'not cut capers, as they did on setting out.' On the 13th of May, he says in a letter to the same correspondent:
"'I shall leave this place to-morrow; my horses, especially the two I bought just before I left Philadelphia, and my old white horse, are much worn down, and I have yet 150 or 200 miles of heavy sand to pass before I get fairly into the upper and firmer road.'
"On the way to Augusta he stopped to dine with the widow of his old friend and companion in arms, General Greene, at her seat called Mulberry Grove. On Wednesday, the 18th (May, 1791), Governor Telfair and the principal officers of the State left the capital, with a numerous train of citizens, and proceeded five miles toward Savannah to meet him, and he was conducted to his lodgings accompanied by thousands of people, who filled the air with joyous acclamations. That day he dined with a large party at the Grove, the governor's private residence, near Augusta, where Mrs. Telfair assembled the ladies of the town to meet him at a ball in the evening; on Thursday he received and answered an address from the people, attended a public dinner, and was present at another ball; on Friday he visited the academy and dined again with the governor; and on Saturday he started again on his return, Augusta being the further point of his journey.
"Coming again into South Carolina, he was conducted to Columbia by General Winne, Col. Wade Hampton, and a large number of other citizens, and the next day dined with more than 200 of the principal men and women of the town and neighboring country at the State house, and in the evening attended a ball.
"On Wednesday, the 25th (May, 1791), he dined at Camden, and on the following morning visited this grave of the Baron de Kalb, the places where the British redoubts had been erected, Hobkirk Hill, where General Greene was attacked by Lord Rawdon, and the plains where General Gates was engaged by Lord Cornwallis in 1780. Passing through Charlotte, Salisbury, Salem, Guilford, and other towns, in all of which the love and reverence of the people were exhibited in every variety of manner which taste and ingenuity could suggest, he arrived at Mount Vernon on the 12th of June.